No greater love
by Calleigh's little girl
Summary: My first HipHugger story...After Calleigh kissed Eric he starts hoping,but then he sees her with Jake and goes through hell.Will he still have a chance to win Calleighs heart? Please R&R! C/J at beginning, E/C later


**Discs.: I don't own CSI Miami nor its characters!**

**A/N: So here's my new story and for the first time it's a (n entirely) HipHugger one!**

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No greater love

_Prologue_

As Calleigh closed the space between them and leaned up, kissing him on his cheek, Eric was too surprised to react at all. Only a few seconds later her hand was removed from the back of his neck and she smiled at him, yet to him the short contact of her lips with his face felt like eternity.

Then she passed him by and left, just like nothing had happened, but that wasn't quite true...

She had turned his world upside down, she got his mind spinning 'round and 'round...A big smile appeared on Eric's face, when he started wondering about the fact that if a kiss onto his cheek was already affecting him like this - what would happen if she kissed him on the lips?

Eric tried to stop himself from letting his thoughts go there...But then again, maybe there was actually a reason to hope for him...

He was interrupted in his thoughts by Natalia's voice asking :

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing..." Eric replied, his smile widening.

Natalia just shrugged. After a moment they went back to business. Eric tried to focus onto work all through the rest of the day, but failed miserably...He just couldn't get a certain blond CSI out of his head.

_At the evening :_

Eric was damn relieved when he looked at his watch and saw that shift was officially over. He couldn't wait to get out and home...

Sure it was also making him kinda sad because he won't be able to see Calleigh until the next day...But maybe that was actually good - he had been not much of any help to his colleagues ever since Calleigh had kissed him.

_'Only on the cheek' _Eric reminded himself while he was heading for the locker-room.

When he opened the door he heard someone curse and he knew immediately that it was Calleigh - could never miss the soft drawl of her voice, which became that much more evident when she was excited, tired or angry...

**~~**~~**~~**

Calleigh sighed frustrated, trying to undo the mess she just created with her hair, but she only made it much worse in the process. - The harder she tried the more she got herself into a certainly not so pleasing situation in case that one of the other CSI's walked in.

Well, Natalia - the only one of her colleagues who could have been of any help - had left already when she entered the locker-room.

She had intended on doing some, more than just necessary, grocery shopping after shift, and after the long day she had, she had decided to change quickly clothes before leaving...

Unfortunately she had made the mistake of wanting to pull her white blouse over her head like the black tank top she had worn above it...She had thought it would go faster that way, because she only needed to open the top buttons instead of all, but she had been obviously mistaken.

When she had lifted the blouse over her head several strands of her long blond hair had gotten caught around some of the buttons...

And now she was stuck like this - standing in the locker-room, her arms over her head, her blouse covering her face, the upper part of her body naked if it hadn't been for her bra - plus she had taken off her black pants, to put on a pair of blue jeans, so she was actually only wearing her underwear...

She couldn't see a thing and if she was honest with herself she knew that she could _never _succeed in removing the blouse herself. It was simply impossible to untangle her hair and the buttons on her own...

Calleigh started cursing but a moment later she went completely silent as she heard someone chuckle behind her.

She was damn happy that the person couldn't see her blush bright red right now...God, she only hoped it wasn't Ryan - or even worse Horatio...

**~~**~~**~~**

Eric walked further into the room, curious about what was upsetting Calleigh that much. When he made a turn and Calleigh came into sight he stopped dead in his tracks.

In front of him was Calleigh standing, the black top she had worn above a white blouse during the day was lying on the bench, while the white blouse was apparently stuck somehow around her head.

After a moment he just couldn't take it anymore and he started laughing. His colleague's cursing was immediately stopped and he saw how Calleigh tensed up.

While he was taking in her appearance he said :

"You can relax, Cal...It's me - and in case you want to know, it's only the two of us in here."

He heard something that resembled a relieved sigh.

**~~**~~**~~**

Calleigh was glad that it was Eric - he might tease her a bit about it, but not on an as high level as Ryan or Cooper would do, and Eric won't tell anyone. She knew that...And she was most definitely grateful that it wasn't Horatio who had walked in - that would have been nothing but awkward.

By now a half comfortable, half awkward silence had transformed between them and Calleigh was wondering what he was thinking about right now...

**~~**~~**~~**

Eric kept silent, just looking at her...His chuckles had gone - he was too focused, too captivated by the sight of Calleigh right in front of him - almost naked, it was only then that he noticed that she wasn't wearing her black pants anymore.

Without noticing his legs started moving on their own will, carrying him closer to his object of affection. When he was standing right behind her his feet stopped.

"You need help?"

He of course knew that she indeed needed help.

"Wow, now aren't you smart, Delko..." Calleigh replied, and even though he couldn't see her face he could sense that she was rolling her eyes.

**~~**~~**~~**

He was now standing right behind her, she could feel his breath on her arms, could feel the heat radiating from his body, could feel his eyes wander over her body...But she didn't mind any of it at all...

"How did that actually..." Eric started after a moment of silence.

"Don't ask!" Calleigh interrupted in a very firm way, then her voice softened as she went on,

"Please just help me out of this...mess, will you?"

"Of course..." Eric replied.

He lifted his hands and started to untangle, as gentle as possible, the strands of her blond around the buttons.

**~~**~~**~~**

Eric tried to focus onto the task at hand, after all, he didn't want to hurt her by pulling to hard on her hair.

"Ouch! That hurt..." Calleigh exclaimed after a while.

"Sorry, Cal..." Eric mumbled.

He was fighting back the temptation of letting his hands wander over her body, to plant a kiss onto her shoulder-blade.

**~~**~~**~~**

Calleigh felt nervous. She just hoped that Eric would be done before someone came in and caught them in such a compromising situation...

After all, she was standing only in her underwear in front of her opened locker; Eric only an inch behind her, trying to pull her blouse over her head...

Somehow it surprised her that she could still stand, that her legs were still holding her.

Eric's proximity was driving her insane. She felt the temptation to lean back, against his well-trained body, into the safety of his strong arms.

Calleigh was starting to not trust her legs anymore, she began to feel slightly dizzy...

By now grocery shopping and her other plans for her evening were forgotten. When she felt his one hand brush accidentally against her arm, she squeezed her eyes shut, as she felt the tension, the heat between their two bodies increase.

_'Stop it Calleigh! He's your best friend - you don't want to lose that, do you?! Not to mention the professional aspect of all of this..." _An inner voice scolded her.

**~~**~~**~~**

When the fingers of his right hand brushed accidentally against her arm he couldn't help, but drawing in a deep, steadying breath. He couldn't deny the sensations evoked by the surprising contact, even though he had barely touched her...

Memories of earlier that day, of her soft kiss onto his cheek rushed back, and suddenly it took him all of his strength not to close the space between them just to feel her body against his.

Eric shook slowly his head, banishing these thoughts...

Another few minutes passed and Eric started smiling again, this time triumphantly when he pulled the blouse off of Calleigh's arms and head. He let it simply drop to the floor, letting his arms hang down at the sides of his body.

Then he took a closer look at her...

When she turned toward him, they locked eyes for a moment, a few endless minutes they were just standing there like this.

Finally Calleigh whispered : "Thanks..."

"No Problem." Eric forced himself to say,

"Well, I should better leave now..."

He let his head drop, it was starting to get a real difficulty to not let his eyes wander, to fight the impulse to draw her closer.

"Uhm, Eric, please don't..." Calleigh started, interrupting his thoughts again.

"Tell anyone?" Eric finished her sentence and a moment later he saw her nod softly, then he went on,

"Don't worry, Cal...My lips are sealed."

"Thanks, again..." Calleigh said closing the space between them.

She leaned up and gave him, once more, a kiss onto his right cheek. Then she added :

"You're a great friend, Eric..."

With that she turned around toward her locker, getting her clothes out.

Eric couldn't do anything but stare at Calleigh for a moment, then he turned to get his stuff out of his locker and headed home.

_At Eric's place :_

When Eric got home he decided to take a cold shower right away. He knew that the odds that it would help him to get his head free in that way were almost none, but it was worth trying at least, right?

So eric went to his bedroom, getting clothes to change into for the night, before entering the bathroom.

He started undressing, fighting back his thoughts about Calleigh, for the matter of minutes - maybe only seconds - he was successful...

He had always - from the very moment he had first met her - felt drawn to her, he knew that by now...He had realized it at last when he woke up at the hospital after being shot, though he was sure that, subconcsiously, he had known it all the time.

Twenty minutes passed before he started shivering due to the icy water running over his skin, so he turned the water off and got ready for bed.

Several minutes later he was lying in his bed, hoping for sleep to come - but it didn't. He sighed frustrated turning from his one side to the other and back.

Eric hated this...Hated lying awake, haunted by his thoughts - unable to get some sleep or at least a bit of rest.

Tonight it was Calleigh keeping himawake...He just couldn't get her out of his head...Couldn't stop feeling the flash of pain when thinking about what happened in the locker-room.

He couldn't understand why she had to ask him not to tell anyone about her little mishap, after all, she should know that he would never do something like that...

But what had hurt even more was the second kiss onto his cheek - accompanied by her telling him he was a great friend...

Yet there had been something about that moment that was still captivating his mind. There had been something in her eyes he couldn't quite put a finger on - and she had turned in his opinion a little too fast away...But then again, she was standing there almost naked, she had probably been terribly embarrassed by the entire incident and wanted nothing more than getting dressed and leave.

He knew Calleigh, knew her better than she might thought - yet he wasn't sure what he was supposed to think, to do...

It were days like this that got his head hurting, 'cause he just didn't know if Calleigh and he were doing alright when it came down to their friendship.

There were time when she withdrew and it felt like there were entire worlds seperating them; then there were times when their 'relationship' was perfectly defined, they were good friends -maybe even best friends, nothing more and nothing less...

And then there were also times when she made his heart, his mind - his entire being spinning and racing, with a look, a smile, a gesture, with something she said, that slightly - really just slightly - crossed the line of being 'just friends'...

Today had been one of those days with all three...

Her statement that she appreciated being appreciated by him had fit into 'just being friends' - but then she had given him that kiss onto his cheek and it made his heartbeat increase, made him hope...

And eventually she gave him the feeling that she wasn't even sure if she could trust him - and his heart got another little crack...

Eric started shaking slowly his head, knowing that it was pointless to think about it, to try to figure Calleigh out.

Then he told himself once more that the kisses onto his cheek were nothing but a nice-meant gesture by Calleigh. She probably didn't even consider it to be something that needed to be deeply analyzed.

After all, they had always had some sort of flirty banter between them...

He had gone through a really tough time recently and she had been there for him the entire time - probably she was simply happy that he was doing better and wanted to make sure that he knew that.

Eric sighed, he wished things could simply be again as easy as before he got shot...

_Tbc_

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Please take the time to review!**

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